It has long been a common practice to shave facial hair using a straight edge razor with an in-line handle. For more than a century, barbers and individuals have been using such unguarded straight razors to shave hair from the face and other body regions. The hazards of using a straight razor, particularly in the hands of an unskilled user, are well-known--cuts and scrapes often resulted. This is one of the reasons many individuals over the years have preferred to use the services of a barber to obtain close shaves. In the United States, barbers have long been licensed professionals, and typically were trained in the use and care of a straight razor. Further, through experience, barbers in the United States and around the world have become quite adept at using straight razors and sharpening them with leather stopping belts.
In response to the perceived danger of using a straight razor in the hands of someone other than a barber, and difficulties in skillfully sharpening them, the now-classic T-bar razor blade device was developed over ninety years ago. The typical old-fashioned T-bar razor, such as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 775,134 to K. C. Gillette, features a handle which is arranged perpendicularly to the major plane of the elongated razor blade head, and connected to the bottom of the razor blade head. Typically, the razor blade head used a replaceable double-sided razor blade, with one razor-sharp edge on either side of the head. Also, on each side of the razor head, a single elongated front guard was provided, and the razor-sharp edge of the razor blade on that side of the head was spaced a short distance back from the front guard. In this manner, the user could place the razor blade head structure adjacent to his skin, by first having the front guard contact the skin, and then carefully rotate the razor blade edge into contact with the skin to be shaved, before beginning of the stroke of the razor edge across the skin. This front guard helped reduce the likelihood of cuts and nicks, by giving a user a guard that also functioned as a guide to help safely present the razor blade edge to the face.
The steady series of improvements to the classic T-bar razor and resulting success of the T-bar razor architecture cannot be denied. Among those improvements was the use of two closely spaced parallel razor blade strips positioned with their razor-sharp edges between front and rear guards, which generally define a working plane for the blade edges, as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,070 to F. W. Dorion, Jr. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,563 to Dorion, Jr. et al. This modern style twin-blade manual T-bar razor has been in wide use in the U.S. more than twenty years. This general style of razor has been undergoing still further improvements, as exemplified by the commercially available Gillette Sensor and Schick Tracer cartridge-based uni-directional razor blade systems. Modern T-bar razors have proven so popular they have supplanted almost all use of in-line straight razors for shaving by individuals. Now it seems that, at least in the United States, it is only the trained professionals, i.e., barbers with the requisite training and experience, who still give shaves to customers using an unguarded straight razor.
The advent of severe communicable diseases, particularly AIDS and the HIV virus, among others, has resulted in fewer barbers still willing to shave customers with straight razors--so much so that the use of straight razors, at least in the U.S., seems destined to be a dying art. Even trained professionals will from time to time accidentally cut, nick or scrape the skin of their customers with such razors, causing some minor bleeding. It is widely known that communicable diseases, particularly AIDS, the HIV virus and other serious viruses, reside in blood. Barbers and others, such as health-care workers, are understandably reluctant to come in contact with blood from others, and tend to avoid tasks where such contact is likely. This tendency has not prevented all professionals from routinely handling procedures where some minor bleeding may occasionally be encountered. In this regard, medical and dental procedures frequently involve exposure to a little bit of bleeding. In response, medical and dental workers now simply wear suitable protective garb. Such gear may include smocks, gloves made of synthetic latex rubber or other film-like plastics, eye shields, nose and mouth masks. Such gear helps ensure against even accidental contact of the blood of the customer or patient with their own bodies. Also, even with the now very safe modern T-bar razors, there is still a small risk of a minor cut or scrape, even with the razor blade edges positioned in the working plane established by closely spaced front and rear guards. Yet that has not stopped the sale of manual razors. Thus, it appears that there are at least some situations where a very minor amount of blood will be tolerated, both by professionals and at-home users of manual razor devices.
Obtaining a truly close comfortable shave is one major benefit of a shave from a barber skilled in the use of the straight razor. Some customers would no doubt like to have them. But they may not ask because they are fearful of contacting a communicable disease either through the barber cutting himself or the chance that there are blood droplets or germs from another earlier customer still be present on the straight razor. Such customers may be concerned that there are other sources of possible germ transmission as well. Most people appreciate that germs and viruses are exceedingly small and cannot be seen. They also know that some kinds of germs can be difficult to kill without the use of strong measures, like: (1) heating to high temperatures, such as in an autoclave; (2) using strong radiation (e.g., bright U-V light); or (3) using strong biological agents, such as liquid bactericide. While these methods are undoubtedly effective when properly carried out, there may well be customers who shy away asking for, and even many barbers who shy away from recommending, old-fashioned wet-lather shaves using a straight razor. Customers and barbers alike may be concerned about possible unsanitary practices associated with the cleaning and/or storage of the straight razors, which barbers will typically reuse many times with different customers. Even the leather stropping belts, used by barbers to sharpen straight razors, for the next customer, may be a source of possible germ transmission. In light of these concerns, the time-honored wet shave by a barber or an individual using an unguarded straight razor is one practice which may even die away.
In terms of past developments, there have been a number of patents issued on straight-razor devices. Some of these are directed toward solving one or more of the aforementioned problems of accidental cuts or of lowering possible disease transmission. In this regard, see the following U.S. patents:
______________________________________ 2,866,984 to Plough; 2,952,910 to Meohas; 3,557,448 to Shead 4,037,322 to Bresler; 4,319,399 to Ciaffone; 4,344,266 to Blake; 4,622,742 to Lee 5,009,003 to Grange ______________________________________
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,742 to Lee discloses an in-line handle which was designed to be broken after a single use, and in this sense was disposable. U.S. Pat. No. 3,557,448 to Shead discloses a retractable razor blade holder to hold a standard straight-edge razor, thereby serving as a replacement for the straight razor commonly used by barbers and hair cutters. U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,003 to Grange discloses a razor that has an improved handle to improve ergonomics and hand control. However none of these three patents appears to provide mechanisms for avoiding cuts, nicks and scrapes while actually shaving. Some of the others disclose guards or shields, but these appear as though they would interfere with the closeness of the shaving process, since they are generally interposed between the skin and the razor-sharp edge of the straight razor.
There are still other patents, beyond those listed above, that also disclose a device for cutting hair using a straight razor blade and an in-line handle. However, common among all of them of which I am aware is a lack of the dual desired goals of obtaining an extremely close shave using a razor-sharp continuous straight-edge of a razor blade, coupled with guarding arrangements that permit a very safe, method of shaving. For example, as noted above, a number of relatively safe in-line razor devices having an in-line elongated handle for cutting hair which use finger-like guards extending over the razor-sharp edge of the elongated straight razor blade. Unfortunately, such devices are suitable for cutting hair or trimming mustaches or sideburns, and often were specifically designed for such purposes, but also were not apparently meant for close skin-shaving purposes. This is because the finger-like projections do not allow the razor-sharp blade edge to bear directly against the skin, thus preventing a truly close shave which is the hallmark of the classic unguarded in-line straight razor device.
Accordingly, there is still a need for solutions to the perceived problems of using a straight razor to provide a close wet shave, particularly as barbers used to routinely give them with straight razors. In particular, there is a continuing need for simple-to-construct, easy-to-use, preferably inexpensive and light-weight shaving devices for enabling barbers to safely and easily shave their customers' faces, including mustaches, goatees and sideburns, using the convenient straight edge razor blade arranged in-line with an elongated handle. Preferably, such new in-line razor blade devices would also address the aforementioned perceived problems with unguarded straight razors, and would be suitable for use by individuals to shave themselves, particularly their facial hair.
Thus, objects of the present invention include the following:
(1) To provide an easy-to-use in-line straight razor shaving device for safely and closely shaving hair stumbled from the face and other parts of the body when the hair stubble is wet and lathered with shaving soap or cream; PA1 (2) To provide an in-line razor shaving device which minimizes the chance of accidentally cutting, nicking or scraping the skin with the razor-sharp edge of the straight razor blade, safety guards to shield the razor blade edge, PA1 (3) To provide an in-line razor shaving device which is sufficiently inexpensive so that it may be discarded when the razor blade becomes dull or used, and replaced with a new, sharp and sanitary razor blade edge, preferably provided in a removable, replaceable cartridge form; PA1 (4) To provide an in-line safety straight razor shaving device having the plane of the razor blade or blades disposed at an angle substantially parallel to the opposed sides of the forward cutter portion of the device, thus permitting the device to be used like old-fashioned unguarded straight razors; PA1 (5) To provide an in-line shaving device which features more than one straight razor blade on the razor head, including razor blades on two opposed sides of the forward cutter portion of the device, with the dual razor blade strips on each opposed side; and PA1 (6) To provide an in-line shaving device which is easy and inexpensive to manufacture, using materials and components found in conventional manual razors in wide use today.